Rockport Music kicks off its fourth summer season at its waterfront Shalin Liu Performance Center with music of all kinds, including the 32nd Rockport Chamber Music Festival and dozens of other musicians of folk, pop, jazz and world music.
Returning this year for the summer series is talent such as Judy Collins, who sold out two shows last year, and who returns on July 5 and 6. Rockport’s own Grammy Award winning Paula Cole also returns for two shows on Aug. 22 and 23.
The second annual Rockport Music Jazz Festival, meanwhile, will run five consecutive nights from Aug. 14 to 18, culminating with three-time Grammy Award winning jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis who appears in a duo with Joey Calderazzo.
The jazz fest also features renowned vocal jazz interpretations of Kurt Elling to the African-inspired jazz of violinist Regina Carter. Also appearing will be Roberta Gambarini, jazz vocalist, and The Four Freshmen.
The 32nd Chamber Music Festival — the roots of the organization that is now Rockport Music — will run from June 7 to July 14, beginning with a June 7 opening night gala featuring pianists Peter Serkin and David Deveau, and A Far Cry string orchestra.
Deveau is the festival’s artistic director. The evening’s program includes Bach’s Double Concertos for Two Keyboards and Strings In C minor; BWV 1060 and C major, and BWV 1061, as well as a selection of chorales and fugues for string orchestra.
There are many newcomers to the five-week Chamber Music Festival including musicians in the following areas: Piano — Wha-Kyung Byun, Ilya Kazantsev, Andrew Li, Adam Neiman, Anton Nel and Daria Rabotkina. Instrumental — Sergey Antonov, cello; Iva Bittová, voice and violin; Aaron Boyd, violin; Heather Braun, violin; Jay Campbell, cello; Sandeep Das, tabla; Sooyun Kim, flute; Gyan Riley, guitar; Sophie Shao, cello; and Scott Woolweaver, viola. Ensembles — Canadian Brass. Vocal — Mischa Bouvier, baritone; Naomi O’Connell, mezzo-soprano. Early Music — Gotham Early Music Scene and Boston Early Music Festival.
There are many returning fan favorites like the Jupiter String Quartet and Boston Symphony Chamber Players. On June 13, there is a program titled “Wagner at 200 (and Bruckner at 189).”
Throughout the season, Rockport Music hosts a variety of educational and community outreach events.
The summer series of folk, pop, jazz and world music series runs through Aug. 31. Performers include the Kingston Trio, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Felix Cavaliere, Suzanne Vega, Hot Club of Cowtown, Manhattan Transfer, Kaki King, Ann Hampton Callaway, Ensemble Galilei, Faith Prince and Tom Rush.
This week and next:
This week’s concerts feature a Celtic ensemble “Cherish the Ladies” slated for Friday night 8 at 8 p.m. in a program designed to usher in St. Patrick’s Day, which falls March 17.
Then on Saturday, Catie Curtis will take the Shalin Liu stage at 8 p.m.
Next weekend, the East Coast Chamber Orchestra performs on Friday, March 15 at 8 p.m., featuring soloist performers, principals in major American orchestras, and award-winning chamber musicians. Their program includes the following works : Holst’s “St. Paul’s Suite”; Purcell’s “Fantasias for Strings”; Stravinsky’s “Concerto in D”; Mozart’s “Divertimento”; Bartók’s “Divertimento, Op. BB118” for String Orchestra.
On March 17, Ben Verdery will perform a classical guitar concert at 5 p.m.
Ticket information:
For tickets for these March and other spring events, call the box office at 978-546-7391 or visit the website at rockportmusic.org.
For the summer concert events, subscription sales will start on March 27 on the website, and single tickets for summer concerts go on sale starting April 16.
Gail McCarthy can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3445, or at gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com.
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